The Brazil World Cup is here and despite some problems in the host country, the 2014 World Cup in football’s spiritual home promises to be one of the best, most exciting ever. Coverage, in terms of betting options and broadcasting is bigger and better than ever – the latter including live streaming from many bookies – and we’ve got our first batch of betting tips to help you make it a profitable four weeks.
Thursday 12th June 2014
Brazil v Croatia (21:00) – Both teams to score and Brazil to win (16/5 with Coral)
Brazil are huge favourites to win this game and few will give Croatia much hope but we mustn’t underestimate the pressure the hosts will be under. As well as being expected to win this match – easily – they are also the bookies favourites to go all the way and win the tournament and with the Brazilian public somewhat ambivalent about hosting the World Cup there is a distinct possibility the atmosphere could become toxic.
Croatia are no mugs and Mario Mandzukic is a class act and whilst we fully expect Neymar and co to get the points, their lack of defensive solidity, with two attacking full backs and “holding midfielders” who like to attack as much as defend, means we fancy Croatia to manage at least a consolation goal.
Friday 13th June 2014
Spain v Netherlands (20:00) – Spain to win (17/20 with Bet365)
Both sides will be desperate to win the group in order to avoid a likely encounter with Brazil in the next round but we think the Spanish will be far too good for Netherlands here. Dutch boss Louis van Gaal may already have one eye on Manchester United and given Spain have now got a top notch striker in Diego Costa we expect them to be even better than they were when beating Netherlands in the last World Cup final.
Some people fancy the Dutch to do well but we suspect they may fail to make it out of the group, with Chile looking good. Whilst they impressed in qualification they will find things much tougher here and against a side as well drilled and efficient as Spain we think they will come unstuck, making odds of 17/20 for the Spain win look like outstanding value.
Chile v Australia (23:00) – Chile -1.5 Asian handicap (11/8 with Bet365)
As stated above, we feel Chile can do well in Brazil and against an Australia side that is up for the fight but lacks real quality they should win easily enough. In Alexis Sanchez and Arturo Vidal the Chileans have two genuine world class stars and given how well they did in the very tough South American qualifying group and how easily they beat England at Wembley back in November we think they’ll get a comfortable win here. Backing them to win 2-0 or even 3-0 in the correct score markets are both worth considering at odds of 6/1 and 21/2 respectively but we instead prefer to take them at 11/8 on the -1.5 Asian handicap market.
Saturday 14th June 2014
England v Italy (23:00) – Under 1.5 goals (7/5 with BetVictor)
Whilst neither side has impressed defensively of late – England’s backline has looked shaky, especially Phil Jagielka and Glen Johnson, whilst Italy conceded against Luxembourg! – we fancy this will be a cagey affair with few real chances. Whilst both sides possess the firepower to score, in the heat and humidity of the Amazon jungle we can’t see either side over-committing and so backing this to be a low scoring clash looks prudent.
First games often tend to be quite defensive, the primary aim more often than not being to avoid defeat and given England would probably settle for a draw we can’t see them leaving too much space for Italy to attack. 0-0 is certainly worth a small bet but we’ll play it safe and go with under 1.5 goals as either side could certainly nick it from a set piece or rare moment of magic.
Sunday 15th June 2014
Ivory Coast v Japan (02:00) – Draw (21/10 with Bet365)
Group C could well be one of the hardest fought at the 2014 World Cup with all four sides fancying they have a chance to qualify and these two will certainly feel they have enough. This is a real contrast of styles, with the African side relying on pace and power – as you would with Yaya Toure, Didier Drogba and others amongst your ranks – whilst Japan favour short, sharp passing with Shinji Kagawa central to their attacking play. However, whilst they are stylistically different, in terms of ability they are quite similar and so, especially with it being the first game, we predict a close battle.
The Ivorians are slight favourites but we think the draw offers the best value at nice odds. Both sides will handle the Brazilian conditions reasonably well and so we could see the game played at a decent tempo and whilst both 1-1 and 2-2 are worthy of consideration, overall our main betting tip has to be the stalemate.